Just over ten years ago, the IBM supercomputer program Deep Blue beat world chess champion Garry Kasparov—the greatest chess mind alive. That moment marked a turning point in the relationship between man and machine.

Now the computer is dominant in nearly every board or card game devised by man. Computers have superior command of chess, draughts, Othello (Reversi), Scrabble, three-dimensional noughts and crosses, Monopoly, and even at bridge and poker.